Power plant



Filed sept. 1s, `1937 l Inventor' Gnther- Diedrich,

His Attorneg.

i Patented May 23, 1939` lPOWER PLANT Gnther Diedrich,Berlin-Reinickendorf, Germany, assignor to General Electric Company, acorporation of New York Application September 13, 1937, Serial No.163,688 In Germany September 24. 1936 1 Claim. The present inventionrelates to power plants,

l more speciiically to power plants including both `internal combustionengines and elastic fluid 1 E. turbines or engines.

For a consideration of what I believe to 10 novel and my invention,attention is directed to` the following description and the claimappended `thereto in connection with the accompanying drawing The singlegure of the drawing illustrates a fp ower plant embodying my invention.

` In the present instance, I have shown my invention in connection with.an air craft, more specifically a three-motored airplane I0 having threepropellers II, I2, and I3. The main proy. `peller I2 is driven by anelastic uidenglne, in f M 1 the present instance a turbine l3a, whichre-` ceives elastic iluid from an elastic fluid genera` l `1to1" orboiler I4. The propellers II and. l3.are driven each by an internalcombustion engine I5 `and I6 respectively.v In` order to utilize theavailable energy of the `exhaust gases of the internal combustion en-"gines I5 and I6, I provide in accordance with my i invention, means forconducting such gases to a suitable point in the elastic fluid generatorI4. In the present example, an intermittent portion of the outer wall ofthe elastic fluid generator y I4` is provided with annular channel I'lwhich forms a ring of nozzles I8 for properly directing f 35 "exhaustgases of the combustion engines into the i combustion space of thegenerator or boiler I4.

The manifolds of the combustion engines I5, I6 fare connected to thechannellll of the boiler by l. t "conduits I9 and 20 respectively. ThenozzlesIB 40f`are connected to the combustion space of the boiler at apoint or points at which the temperatures within such space is of theorder of the `."cptemperature of the exhaust gas of the engines.

` The boiler shown is of the forced-through type 46` having a heatingelement in the form of a single ftfube 2l.` Operating iiuid is forcedthroughthe `tube 2| by a boiler feed pump 22 having an in- 3 "1 letconnected to a tank or reservoir 23 and an `outlet 24 connected to theinlet of the tube 2l.

duit 25 to the inlet of the aforementioned elastic ffluid turbine |3a.The latter discharges into'an lair-.cooled surface type heat exchangeror conxdenser 26 whence the condensate isfconducted 65 [through aconduit 21 into the tank or reservoir 23. Means are provided forutilizing the available energy in the gases discharged from the elasticfluid generator or boiler. This means comprises a gas turbine 28receiving gases from boiler I4 and driving a blower 23 having an im- 5peller 30 secured to a shaft 3I which forms an extension of the shaft ofthe gas turbine. 'I'he blower 23 serves for furnishing air to maintaincombustion in both the boiler and the internal combustion engines. Tothis end the blower 29 is 10 connected to the boiler and to the enginei6 by conduits 32 and 33. 'I'he conduit 32 includes a heat exchanger 34receiving heat from the gases discharged from the gas turbine 28, thelatter being connected to the heat exchanger 34 by a 15 conduit 35. Theprovision of a single blower for furnishing air under pressure to boththe combustion space in the boiler and to the combustion engines isanimportant feature of my invention because it renders the operation ofthe plant more 20 economical than is possible by the provision ofseparate supercharging means for the combustion engine and blower meansfor theboiler.

Fuel is supplied to the boiler from a fuel tank 36 through a conduit 31,a fuel pump 33 and a 25 burner 39. The conduit 3l includes a coil 31alocated within the heat exchanger 34 whereby the fuel is preheated bythe combustion gases flowing from the boiler through said heat exchanger34. 30

'Ihe pumps 22 and 38 for forcing operating uld and fuel into the boilerare preferably driven by engine means operated directly or indirectly bythe exhaust gases of thel boiler. In the present instance, these pumpsare driven by motors 40 35 and 4I respectively which are energizedthrough conductors 42 by an electric generator 43 driven from the gasturbine 28 through a gearing 44.

'Ihus with my invention I have accomplished an improved arrangement ofcombined elastic 40 fluid generator and combustion engine power plantswhereby the exhaust gases of both the combustion engine and the elasticuld generator are fully utilized. The provisions of such plant isespecially advantageous in connection with aircraft because duringstartingoperation the elastic fluid generator permits high overload anda ring of nozzles formed in the wall of the boiler for conductingexhaust gases from the engine to points in the combustion space at whichthe temperature is the same as that of the combustion 5 gases, and meansfor supplying Iuel and air to the boiler, said means including acentrifugal type compressor and a gas turbine receiving combustiongases'from the boiler and driving the compressor, the gas turbine havinga bucket wheel enclosed in the boiler casing.

GNTHER DIEDRICH.

